Dogs are not an ayatollah's best friend / Pet owners in Iran are arrested, canines confiscated as 'unclean'

Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times

Published
4:00 am PDT, Sunday, September 2, 2001

2001-09-02 04:00:00 PDT Tehran, Iran -- Periodically, the guardians of all things revolutionary and Islamic in Iran decide that the country's pet dogs must go.

"I would like to thank the honorable police and judges and all those who worked to arrest dog lovers and to confiscate short-legged dogs in this city," thundered Gholamreza Hassani, a mid-ranking cleric, in a recent Friday prayer sermon in the northeastern city of Urmiyeh.

The dead from the war against Iraq should consider themselves blessed, he intoned, because they did not live to behold such an affront to Islamic values.

"Happy are those who became martyrs and did not witness the playing with dogs! Now, in our society, women wear hats and men hold dogs," he said.

Although Hassani is known for occasionally eccentric topics, there is no mistaking the campaign against dogs this year. Dog owners say confiscations have been up sharply for months, and special television programs roll out experts to discuss diseases spread by dogs. In a general crackdown announced last week against what they termed moral depravity, the police said dog sellers would be arrested along with women wearing heavy makeup and storeowners displaying provocative mannequins.

"Regarding the spread of decadent Western culture in the society, the police have risen up against the propagators of corruption," warned the police statement detailed by the newspaper Iran Daily.

The dubious view of dogs is traced, of course, to Islamic teaching. There is just one vague reference in the Koran to a tribe owning dogs. However, the Hadith, the sayings of the prophet's contemporaries that is the basis for much Islamic law, contains about 430 references to dogs.

A few detail positive characteristics: their loyalty, for example, or their herding abilities. Thus, dogs used by shepherds or as guard dogs are religiously permitted. But most references denounce dogs as najis, or unclean.

"Angels do not enter a house that has either a dog or a picture in it," reads one. Another says, "Whoever keeps a dog except for hunting, guarding cattle and crops will lose one large measure of his reward every day."

Should even a sanctioned guard dog lick a piece of household china, there is real labor involved in restoring its cleanliness.

"When the dog licks the utensil, wash it seven times and rub it with earth the eighth time," advises one Hadith.

In the Shiite branch of Islam prevalent in Iran, learned scholars write lengthy tomes about customs and practices that the faithful turn to for advice.

The chapter on daily living inevitably censures dogs.

The Islamic Propaganda Office in Qom, the center for religious studies in Iran, publishes an abridged compilation of the teachings called "Everything You Need to Know." The 10 things listed as unclean and best avoided include beer, wine, infidels and dogs.

Little foofie dogs seem to provoke the most ire from authorities. Yet in Islam, everything is open to interpretation. So religious scholars say that if you have a midget dog, such as a Chihuahua, and want to declare it a guard dog,

you might get away with it.

But it is best to consult an ayatollah or other senior religious figure for a learned opinion.

Iranian dog owners adapt to the periodic doggie dragnets. Most have long since given up walking their dogs in public parks -- an activity officially banned in Tehran -- as that attracts police attention and frequently results in confiscation. And while the recent public floggings of adolescents for drinking provokes criticism, what really causes outrage among dog owners is the mistreatment and beatings of confiscated dogs before the owners rescue them.

To avoid that, owners try to walk them near their homes, and not let them get too close to anyone who appears offended.

"A lot of people say, 'Get it away,' because they think dogs are dirty, but I don't believe it," said Mahtab Foroughi, a woman walking her Russian poodle, Lika, on a leafy Tehran side street. She keeps Lika close, not only to avoid offending people, but because the poodle was the victim of a dognapping. Once when Lika wandered down the street, two men on a motor scooter came by and swept her away.

She was found a week later for sale in Molavi, a commercial district near the downtown bazaar where the main animal market is located. Dogs are at a premium in such places, for if the authorities look askance at dog owners, dog sellers are basically considered criminal. Most people obtain their dogs through friends, but pet shops selling mostly birds have a few in small cages in backrooms.

Sellers of stolen dogs work out of their car trunks. They deploy much like drug dealers in Western cities, sidling up to pedestrians to whisper, "Dog, got a dog." One spotting a foreigner got more specific. "Got a German shepherd, " he whispered.

Municipal workers cruise the market looking for dogs to confiscate. On a recent day, one explained that confiscated dogs are usually destroyed unless the owner can produce a license and a record of shots. But his statement was immediately denounced by a man waving a dog license and demanding his animal back. When the city worker demurred, the man grabbed him around the throat, prompting police intervention.